The present invention relates to a tiltable or yieldable type ornament assembly which is mounted on a section of a vehicle body such as a hood panel or a trunk lid panel for yielding movement so as to prevent injury thereby as well as damage thereto.
A typical prior art construction of the above-mentioned type ornament assembly is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 and will be described hereinbelow.
In FIGS. 1 and 2, a yieldable type ornament assembly generally designated by the reference numeral 70, is composed of the following component parts:
(i) an ornament body member 71 formed as a die casting;
(ii) ornamental strips 72, 73 made of acrylic resin and bonded to the front and rear sides of the ornament body member 71, respectively, by means of double-faced adhesive tape;
(iii) an inverted U-shaped pin 75 inserted into an opening 74 formed in the lower part of the ornament body member 71 and depending downwardly therefrom;
(iv) a base member 78 normally holding said ornament body member 71 in its upright position;
(v) a spacer 77 made of a relatively soft plastic and interposed between the base member 78 and a section of a vehicle body such as a hood panel 76;
(vi) a fastening plinth 80 partially surrounding the downwardly depending section 79 of the base member 78 and forcibly pressed against the inner surface of the hood panel 76;
(vii) a nut 82 screwed onto the depending section 79 of the base member 78 at the threaded part 81 thereof and cooperating with the fastening plinth 80 to fixedly attach the base member 78 to the hood panel 76;
(viii) a coiled spring 85 in a compressed condition, wound about the pin 75 and having its upper end seated against a horizontal pin 83 and its lower end 84 seated on a bent lower end of the pin 75; and
(ix) a cap nut 86 screwed onto the depending section 79 of the base member 78 at the threaed part 81 thereof to prevent acess of mud and water.
If the above-mentioned ornament assembly 70 should be contacted by a person or by some object, the ornament body member 71 tilts or yieldingly moves relative to the base member 78, preventing injury thereby as well as damage thereto.
The ornament assembly of the described type, however, requires a number of component parts, that is, nine parts, thus resulting in a relatively large manufacturing and assembling expense. Moreover, the ornament assembly has the disadvantage that it is inclined to chatter or rattle in response to vibrations of the vehicle body particularly when the spring 84 begins to weaken.
The present invention aims to obviate the foregoing drawbacks inherent in the prior art yieldable type ornament assembly.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved yieldable type ornament assembly for automotive vehicles, which is composed of a reduced number of component parts thereby reducing manufacturing and assembling expense.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved yieldable type ornament assembly of the above-mentioned character which will not rattle or chatter, even after extended periods of use.